Of bhajans and ballads

SANDEEP SINHA

At a time when the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee is setting up a college to train dhadhis and kavishries, to preserve the talent of reciting vaars or ballads and to instill values enshrined in the Gurbani and to safeguard the youth from drugs and intoxicants, a variant of it is also at work in a slightly different way at a place the Gurus described as “Purab ki Sangat”.

At the Takht Sri Harmandir Sahib near Patna, the place where Guru Gobind Singh was born, as I prepared to leave on a humid Tuesday afternoon, biting into the pinni parsad near its entrance, a bhajan being sung beautifully in Bhojpuri caught my ears.

Seated near the security personnel at the entrance, a Sikh man was merrily singing the bhajans in Bhojpuri, entertaining the visitors and the armed guards. The bhajans were for Goddess Kali and described how the deity responds to a bhakt’s ardour, Piar dehiya, he Kali maiyya... The singing was soothing and simply beautiful.

The security personnel first frowned and then smiled when I told them I was an “akhbar wala”. The man singing the bhajans introduced himself as Sobha Singh. Sobha Singh is a baptised Sikh (Amritdhari) but has no direct connection with Punjab. He is in fact from Hajipur near Patna. He can speak in Punjabi but can’t read and write in that language. “Jab bhi khali samay milta hai, main bhajan gaa leta hoon,” he says.

Sobha Singh says he loves to sing bhajans. It all started when a Shiva temple was discovered inside the premises of the local police station. The policemen invited him to perform bhajans to mark the consecration of the temple.

And Sobha Singh has not looked back since then. Apt situation for a place where the 10th Sikh master Guru Gobind Singh was born and who said in the shabad said to have been written by him, “Deh Shiva bar mohe yahi, shubh karman te kabhu na tara...” His efforts are also in sync with the local social conditions, integrating with the local populace and instilling values of religious teachers and texts through local language.

Sobha Singh is just 45 and has been working at the Patna Sahib Gurdwara ever since he was a child. His father and grandfather also served at the gurdwara. A jolly man, he says he is already a grandfather and has a son-in-law as well as daughter-in-law. Acceding to my request, he sings a few lines for me before an amused audience of policemen and others. He tells me to organise a programme and invite him to sing the bhajans in Bhojpuri. I nod in agreement not sure if I shall be able to keep it.

But one thing is for sure: Kashmir strongman Farooq Abdullah, who has delighted the audience with his rendition of bhajans on many occasions, has got competition, and a stiff one with that.